Page 31 of Meet You in the Waves
We finally made it to the centre of town, the whole village of Esperance out for the night of celebrations. The long jetty that jutted out to the sea was festooned in colourful decorations and banners fluttering in the light sea breeze. A makeshift stage with a live band was set up on the foreshore playing 80s power rock covers with throngs of people already dancing to the steady beat ofMy Sharona.
There were hundreds if not a thousand people on the beach already, none of them recognisable and I suddenly panicked that we would never find Nick in this crowd.
Dane did not share my concern as he directed us straight to where a long line of tents were set up on the foreshore serving drinks and a surprisingly vast array of different types of street food. He ordered himself a blood orange gin which I quickly declined, knowing I needed to start standing up for myself with Dane. Especially when it came to buying expensive drinks.
I found a slightly less ostentatious drinks stall and ordered myself a cider, about to pay with my phone when a credit cardlanded on the machine before I could even blink. I glanced up to see Nick standing beside me, a wicked grin on his face.
“That was very naughty,” I pouted at him, unable to keep the smile from spreading across my face.
“I told you your money was no good out here,” he replied, picking up my drink from the bar top. He twisted the lid off the top and handed me the bottle.
“Were you a bartender in a past life?” I asked.
“Mmm, no. I just have this strong impulse to help out pretty boys in distress,” he chided.
“I am not in distress, thank you,” I huffed, ignoring his reference to calling me pretty. Because speaking of pretty, he really was something else tonight with his hair pulled back from his face like that, highlighting his square jaw and those nice cheekbones. And that white t-shirt was really quite tight and could possibly even be described as a tad distracting. I mean, for people who might be so inclined to look, especially with the way the material was squeezing his pecs and hugging those biceps. I could see his peaked nipples and I was pretty sure I could count all the washboard abs on his stomach for that matter too.
“Come on,” Nick smirked, a knowing glint in his eye as he led me down to the waterfront, hand low on my back. “Everyone’s down here by the jetty.”
I caught Dane’s eye and he fell into step with us as we made our way towards the jetty where I could see Rob and Mateo in the mix with a number of Nick’s other friends. I could make out a few of the crew who had been at our beach party the other night including Mateo’s girlfriend, Tate.
“Ajay!” Rob crooned, pulling me into a one armed hug as though we were lifelong friends.
“Hands to yourself,” Nick joked, pushing his friend off me while Dane just rolled his eyes.
“My intentions are pure, I promise,” Rob returned, swaying a little with his next step. I could see Mateo eyeing me in what I could only describe as disdainfully from the other side of the group, his girlfriend hanging off his arm.
“Oooh, you must be Ajay.” The girl from the other night came up beside Rob, her elbow perched on his shoulder as she grinned at me. “I’m Kat.”
“Nice to meet you, Kat,” I said.
“Aw you really are cute. I approve,” Kat grinned, eyes on Nick with a secret smile that no doubt came from years of friendship.
“Ignore her,” Nick cut in, narrowing his eyes back at Kat and saving me from asking what exactly Kat approved of. I could feel a lot of eyes on me and I wasn’t entirely sure why as I hovered uncertainly at Nick’s side. I took a nervous sip of my cider as I glanced at Dane, noting how out of place he looked amongst Nick’s group of friends.
“I got you some glowsticks,” Nick suddenly remembered, pulling out a handful of the colourful sticks from his back pocket. “You definitely need a necklace.” I laughed while Nick proceeded to activate the sticks into a bright array of colours before curving them into a necklace around my neck. He made a couple of bracelets for each of my wrists too which he slid on for me.
“What do you think, Dane? Do they suit me?” I asked, showing off my latest fashion accessories.
“Well, they’re certainly bright,” he returned, eyebrow raised.
“You want a couple of glowsticks too, little bro?” Nick asked, holding out the packet to Dane.
“I’m good,” Dane replied. Nick just shrugged and I decided to let it go. I had a feeling nothing was going to make Dane enjoy the festivities tonight. Part of me felt a whole heap of guilt for being the reason Dee was not here with him.
The other part of me decided I was just going to enjoy myself tonight and not worry about all the other stuff going on in our lives.
I managed to do just that, helping design some amazing glowstick jewellery for Nick to wear while the sun sunk beneath the horizon, the dusky pink of the evening replaced with a curtain of black sky dotted with diamonds.
I met most of Nick’s friends, all of them as friendly and welcoming as I had come to expect from the South Coast. Well, all of them except for Mateo who had still not even acknowledged my existence other than with the occasional glare. Dane managed to bump into an old friend from his primary school days who seemed happy to talk with him for the night so at least I didn’t have to worry about him.
Nick was always somewhere within my vicinity, always catching my eye and sending me one of those bright smiles. He always somehow managed to have another drink for me whenever my bottle ran low, though I couldn’t have said how.
We drank too much and we danced side by side to the live band, shouting out the lyrics toWe Built This CityandYou Shook Me All Night Longwhile getting a little sweaty to the heavy riff inParadise City.
The countdown clock hit zero and the fireworks lit up the sky, poppers, hugs and kisses happening all around us. Nick was at my side as we lay on the sand, eyes on the explosion of glittering fireworks as they set off up in the sky, the kaleidoscope of colours reflected in his eyes.
Afterwards Nick and I just lay in the sand, his body a warm presence at my side, nowhere else I really wanted to be than right here, right now on the soft sand of this beach on the South Coast. Next to him.
